This doubled once the invisible costs, such as unrecorded write-offs, were taken into account. The RM100 billion total loss was equivalent to US$40 billion at then prevailing exchange rates.

Barry, who is a former editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal, says most of the scams, which included a government attempt to manipulate the international tin price and gambling by Bank Negara on global currency markets, occurred in the 1980s.

‘Malaysian Maverick’ is the first independent, full-length study of Mahathir, who retired in 2003 after more than two decades as premier. The book will be published globally next week by Palgrave Macmillan.

Wain writes that the Mahathir administration, which took office in 1981 with the slogan, “clean, efficient, trustworthy”, was almost immediately embroiled in financial scandals that “exploded with startling regularity”.

By the early 1990s, he says, cynics remarked that it had been “a good decade for bad behaviour, or a bad decade for good behaviour”.

Secret military deal with US

The book also reveals that:

Mahathir, despite his nationalistic rants, signed a secret security agreement with the United States in 1984 that gave the Americans access to a jungle warfare training school in Johor and allowed them to set up a small-ship repair facility at Lumut and a plant in Kuala Lumpur to repair C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

Mahathir used a secret fund of his ruling Umno to turn the party into a vast conglomerate with investments that spanned almost the entire economy.

Mahathir’s Umno financed its new Putra World Trade Centre headquarters in Kuala Lumpur partly with taxpayers money, by forcing state-owned banks to write off at least RM140 million in interest on Umno loans.

Wain, who is now a writer-in-residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, however credits Mahathir with engineering the country’s economic transformation, deepening industrialisation and expanding Malaysia’s middle class.

But Mahathir had undermined state institutions, permitted the spread of corruption and failed to provide for Malaysia’s future leadership, he says.

Related Article:

Do you know that:

Last year, Petronas gained a total pre-tax profit of RM86.8 billion and so far, it has earned about RM600 billion. As the surge of international oil prices, it’s profits will as well substantially grow. But the government has reduced fuel subsidies by a wide margin, turning Malaysia into one of the world’s most expensive oil price oil-producing countries. It makes the people wonder where the huge profit of Petronas has gone?

Former Work Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said in the Parliament last year that the government has compensated a total of RM38.5 billion to 20 highway companies. Also, as the government has stopped building the Scenic Bridge in Johor, it has to compensate RM300 million construction cost to the bridge contractor. Isn’t the spending of such huge amount a waste?

Former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim revealed that the Central Bank has lost RM30 billion in foreign exchange trading in the 1990s. Who was the manipulator behind it? (Second Finance Minister was in charge of Bank Negara’s Forex trading at that time)

Malaysia Airlines was said to have suffered losses every year. But why to spend RM1.55 million to buy three paintings to decorate its chairman’s office? And why to spend RM7,525 per day to recruit a foreign senior general manager?

Proton Holdings bought a 57.75% stake in MV Agusta for €70 million but sold it at €1 (RM4.50) a year later, causing Proton to lose €75.99 million (RM 348 million)?

11. The government has spent a total of RM3.2 billion in teaching Maths and Science in English over the past five years. Out of the amount, the government paid a whopping RM2.21 billion for the purchase of information and computer technology (ICT) equipments which it is unable to give a breakdown.

12. The commission paid for purchase of jets and submarines to two private companies Perimeker Sdn Bhd and IMT Defence Sdn Bhd amounted to RM910 million.

14. RM1.3 billion have been wasted building the white elephant Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities on cancellation of the Malaysia-Singapore scenic bridge

15. RM 100 million on renovation of Parliament building and leaks

16. National Astronaut Programme – RM 40 million

17. National Service Training Programme – yearly an estimate of RM 500 million

18. Eye on Malaysia – RM 30 million and another RM5.7 million of free ticket

19. RM 4.63 billion, ’soft-loan’ to PKFZ

20. RM 2.4 million on indelible ink

21. Samy announced in September 2006 that the government paid compensation amounting to RM 38.5 billion to the highway companies. RM 380 million windfalls for 9 toll concessionaires earned solely from the toll hike in 2008 alone.

31. Wholesale distribution of tens of millions of shares in Bursa Malaysia under guise of NEP to cronies, children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth billions of ringgits.

32. APs scandal had been going on year-after-year going back for more than three decades, involving a total mind-boggling sum of tens of billions of ringgits

33. Alienation of tens of thousands of hectares of commercial lands and forestry concessions to children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth tens of billions of ringgits

34. Travel around Malaysia and see for yourself how many white elephants like majestic arches, roads paved with fanciful bricks, designer lamp posts, clock towers, Municipal Council buildings that looks more like Istanas, extravagant places of worship, refurbishment of residences of VIPs, abandoned or under-utilised government sports complexes and buildings, etc! Combined they could easily amount to the hundreds of billions of ringgits!

35. Wastages and forward trading of Petronas oil in the 1990s based on the low price of oil then. Since the accounts of Petronas are for the eyes of Prime Minister only, we have absolutely no idea of the amount. Whatever amount, you bet it is COLLOSSAL!

In Time Asia magazine issue on March 15 2004, South East Asian economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore Daniel Lian, figures “that the country may have lost as much as U$$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption.” Mind you, this is only corruption and it does not include wastages!

All the rakyat’s hard earned money down the drain and they have the audacity to raise fuel prices and asking the people to change their lifestyles.

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138 Responses to Mahathir squandered RM100 bil, says new book

Mr.Barry Wain,you failed to mention that in 1988
Dr.Mahathir screwed up the Judiciary by sacking the
Lord President,Tun Salleh Abbas.As a result,we have
this joker lawyer,V.K.Lingam of the now famous quote,
it looks like me,it sounds like me but not me.And Correct,Correct,Correct over the appointment of
Lord President post,mind you.

What about Malaysia educational system,Dr.Mahathir
did away with English and replaced it with Bahasa
Malaysia.Only after the end of his 22 yrs tenure as PM did he realised that Malaysia education is a total
failure and tried replacing English as a compulsory
subject for maths and science.Mr.Barry Wain,you only
mentioned the financial loss caused by Dr.Mahathir.What about the judiciary,educational etc.etc.When once Malaysia,a country rich in resources,whose currency was RM0-90cts to Singapore
$1/-in the sixties, is now the opposite,RM2.45 to S$1-00 all these are the legacies of the great Dr.Mahathir.

You may call him great or the father of development. But to me he is a crook of the highest order. He burned everything in his way. Corruption, sacking the judiciary, screwed the pdrm and treated everyone with contempt. His legacyh left behind a corrupted govt.He also lined the pockets of the ruling elite and his croonies. May God pass judgement on him for all the evil that he did to this country. Lastly he divided the races and till today plays the racial card. I wait for him to kick the bucket and rot/burn in HELL for all his evel doings.

Mahatir is the Bapa project IC! Being a worst racist he created ‘malay’ in Sabah which never existed here before for his ethnic cleansing project! HE IS THE WORLD WORST DICTATOR AND A RACIST in this modern era even HELL won’t accept a person as him!

aiya this guy doesn’t remember how RM80b went in ONE DAY trying to prop up KLSE in 1998 … dunno how to give thanks, this guy ..chrome.exe TCP:Outbound (stream) 58.26.1.27:80 00:00:58 278 bytes/546 bytes

An interesting analysis which if proven correct should give Mahathir the noble award of
“Father of Bankruptcy” (Malaysia), or alternatively induct him into the “Malaysian Hall of Untold Shame” , alongside the nice guy Najib

He is none other than as follows:
1. Father of corruption,
2. He systematically polarised Malaysian society into
the Muslim half & the non Muslim half,
3. Damaged Malaysian society (permanently) by allowing
foreign workers into the country, without proper
procedural guideline,
4. Law & Order and discipline completely eroded in
Malaysian society (permanently),
5. The most despicable person ever to be born in
Malaysia,
6. Etc, etc, etc …….

This is what he’s afraid of. All his wrong doing being laid bare for all malaysian to see and his name will forever remain in infamy. And he’s still alive when it happen!
I for one, am very happy for this and may all Malaysian see Mahathir as he truly was and is (a calamity and disaster for Malaysia)!

The architect that destroy the social fabric of fellow citizen, the divide and rule, a lop-sided policy that promotes corruption, so prevailing that true lies becomes the law of the day to day modus operandi of all govt. institutions. Abuses and leakages are norms acceptable to his leadership and breeds cronyism, nepotism where benefits of NEP were blatantly abused.

The fact that that the economy grew during his tenure is merely “coincidental”. We have all the resources, even a monkey knows that. Malaysia could hv been much better today, if not surpassing neighbours like Singapore if not for the mismanagement, corruption etc

To me, Mahathir has failed as a leader and policitian. His children should be ashamed of having such a crooked father.

Dr Mahathir has forgotten what he did to Malaysia, in his mind he is now squeaky clean, look at the way he talks about morally corrupt subject, did he look guilty of any wrong doing, no he is very relax, so does his prodigy

Only RM100 billion?
I thought the mother of crooks squandered more than that.Hey who is Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.The 2 so called world richest have to ‘learn’ from Tun how to make $$ the easy way.Oh how about Tun Daim?How much did he squandered?RM99 Billion?

The estimated RM100 billion on financial scandals is only under the 22-year rule of Dr Mahathir Mohamad. What about the scandals under Tun Abdullah Badawi and our present PM Tun Najib Razak? No wonder Malaysia economy is going down the drain. Our heighbouring countries must be very happy as Malaysia failure will be their gain. Wake up Malaysians don’t ever give BN the two-third majorities. There must be a check and balance, to prevent further corruption and scandals by the people who walks the corridor of power.

The biggest crime this Mega Hypocrite & Father-of-All-Crooks named Dr Mahathir was his so-called affirmative policies which have made the Malays in Malaysia becoming lazy and backward people who expect handouts all the time.Now the Malays are totally incapable of competing on level playing field anywhere and Malaysia is frowned upon as a corrupt country with tainted state institutions.

Actually, a more realistic figure is RM 20 billion per year for 15 years , totalling RM 330 billions were wasted (i.e. squandered)

Nevertheless, I disagree with the author with this “Wain, who is now a writer-in-residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, however credits Mahathir with engineering the country’s economic transformation, deepening industrialisation and expanding Malaysia’s middle class.”

Give me RM330 billions and I can build 10 Singapore cities capable in accomodating the whole Malaysia population and that my friend, is an engineering feat.

He’s too old now and has a weak heart so I’m not sure they will sent him to prison. But what he did, squandering RM100 billion of rakyat’s money is certainly an irresponsible criminal act which must be made known to all Malaysians. RM100 billion could have built schools, hospitals, created more jobs and helped so many in poverty. It could also helped improve the living standards of the Indian community.

Barry…you got the figure wrong…this bugger stole the soul of Malaysia and made Malaysia a cheap prostitute….Malaysia today stands before the world naked.

May God have mercy on his soul. This book should have been released 10 years ago. Mahathir…the greatest crook this land has ever seen…how in God’s name can his family who profited off his crooked ways can ever live or stay in Malaysia. The Pakatan Rakyat must go after the entire family while this fella is still alive. For destroying this nation…Mahathir should be hung like Saddam…

if this is true all the citizens have been cheated and all ordinary citizen would have leaved very well for example free education up to unversity level, good health management systems less tax and simple and comfortable life. Honestly, we have been raped since the day we were borned.

I am not surprised that this book will be banned in Malaysia. So grab it before the ban is slapped on the book.
My late father was an UMNO branch chairman (during the 60s – 70s) who really worked for his party and his community. He belonged to those dedicated and honest guys in UMNO. But as soon as Mahathir took over the helm he told my cousin that this guy (Mahathir) “adalah perosak bangsa” – that was way back in the 80s. How true was my late father’s assertion.

Mahathir is good at cover-ups but for how long can he do it. The time has come for the people of Malaysia and the whole world to know of the crimes that Mahathir had committed. And what’s worse is that he is still alive when the exposure of his crimes is slowly and surely being unearthed.

disregard all the nitty-gritty and focus on the big picture. if dr mahathir had even an inkling of one, one for the entire nation and its future, and done what is right we would today be way above all in southeast asia and possibly just next to japan in terms of economic development — and with that, social progress and maturity.
instead, what do we have? a totally disfunctional country (i don’t consider us a nation at all now). 22 years of mis-government, short sighted thinking, personal biasness, incompetence and arrogance from just one man has lost the whole country years of progress and left us struggling behind, even that little red dot is way ahead and before too long even thailand and vietnam will be looking down on us. not to mention indonesia and philippines once they solved their domestic problems (they are not like us, they are nations covering thousands of islands with many languages, cultures and beliefs/religions).
barry wain is being kind to credit dr mahathir with pushing industry and progress. truth is all that is to benefit his cronies and strengthen his political grip. truth is mahathir mohamad didnt so what was proper and pushed malaysia up the economic ladder in the whole east asian region, so instead today we are in danger of lagging behind the so-called basket cases of 30 years ago.
instead of sprouting rubbish all the time, he should be utterly ashamed that today, after a double-decade of his egoistic stupidity, we are a disfunctional country racially, religiously, culturally, linguistically.
thank you tun mahathir for all this. and may you reflect on this in the remaining days of your life.
(oh, i’ve no doubt you will be reflecting very comfortably compared to daily struggles to survive of the many/millions of your fellow malaysians disadvantaged and discriminated by the policies you entrenched).
barry wain is too kind.

Actually, its much much more than US100B. Think about all the contracts given out to their children/cronies to monopolise the importation of goods (medicine/APs) and services which inflates their prices. The Public has to pay excesses which only benefits a mere handful. Worse than daylight robbery.

Dr M maybe guilty of many things but changing English to BM in school was done when he was out of Umno if I am not mistaken sometime in 1970 or 71. And that’s guy’s name was Abdul Rahman (not the father Merdeka)with approval from Tun Razak to propiate the linguist nationalist.

But you have equate BM education with inferior education.

Your rant about BM education border on racism.

If you is right bout Engish learnin’ better than other language learnin’, then Kenya , Tanzania and Philipines would be shining beacon of Modernity and Develop status instead of Japan, S.Korea and Taiwan !!! You dig?(pardon the my Ebonics and no offence to African American cuz I do dig Ebonics).

Yet in his trashy chedet.com he got the audacity to blame his predecessor of being too nice to Singapore with these words “…that city-state with a per capita income of US$36,000 (Malaysia’s per capita incidentally is US$7,000, i.e one-fifth of Singapore.”

He should bear the bulk of blame for M’sia’s ever deteriorating per capita income, shouldn’t he for such a lengthy tyrannical reign of 22 years. That RM100 billions albeit conservative is one of the major contributing factors for the dismal state of being for Malaysia Boleh due to the foolhardy approach in hubrism trailblazed by the infamous MM.

From 31st August 1957, Malaya/Malaysia,a beautiful land of milk and honey,has been raped,swindled,corrupted, etc.,by the new leaders right upto the present.Only a handful and their cronies have benefitted.The only solution is that the entire leadership,fron the lowest the the highest,including govt.servants and opposition (they are the other side of the same coin)must be removed totally.Only new honest and capable people must come forward and form a new Malaysia.Next elections are not far off.That is the only way a new Malaysia can be created,peacefully.CHANGE MALAYSIA IN THE NEXT ELECTIONS.

Barry,
The saying, there r always 2 sides to a coin. 6 can be viewed as 9 and 9 can viewed as 6 dependings on which side you are. Freedom fighters were often labelled as terrorists. History and facts are twisted, like Singapura was founded by Francis Light instead of… u should know better. Things become worst when facts are purposely manupulated when one chooses side. we certainly can see which side you are. However for those who like to comment, please be more fair and ought to learn to be thankful as well. Pls give some deep thought than just as shallow, careless and not so clever critics.

all this crooks must have thought they will live forever.i wonder if death ever cross their mind and make them realise their grave are too small for all the money they have pocketed illegally.
some of the past corrupted minister are screaming like hell in hell but im not sure if they scream to warn najib n the gang or to call them to join asap….
hey cant u see the time is always ticking counting your days???????

When a big guy is cornered there will always be some of his admirers, sycophants, cronies coming to his rescue but unable to substantiate their claims factually. Despite the facts given in strong statements by the author and strongly endorsed by those reliable personalities still it cannot be accepted by these admirers, sycophants and cronies of this big guy. It’s a sad story.

First I would sincerely like to thank you for visiting this blog and appreciate your comments very much. The fact is I do NOT filter only those comments that are against my idea.

For your information there were many, many comments that were profane, lewd and extremely unkind towards Tun Mahathir which I have deleted as trash immediately. I have also censored some comments that made personal attacks against the so-called author of the book. Apart from that there were also comments which tries to link to race or religion which wasn’t appropriate.

he sures will be pissed off with the barry wain for this article. but he sure did drain the coffers of this beatiful country which is owned by all races with his polarized policies to justify his so called assistance of one group so that he can use invisible hands to loot all he can. that is what he will be remembered for when he kicks the bucket.

When you say Mahathir sqaundered billions you are actually alleging Mahathir personally benefitted from this. Can you proof it or do you have any proofs. What I read alleged Mahathir makes mistakes during his PMship resulting the country loosing lots of Money. In that instance, it is more noble and wiser to quantify the benefits he has brought to Malaysia. Weigh it and then pass judgement. If the benefits are more than disbenefits than it is normal in running an organisation or country. Moreover what you mentioned are his mistakes and corrupt practices insinuating his involvement in them, knowingly? or has it ever occurred to you he may be correcting his subordinates mistakes just like a CEO having organisational problems in his day to day running of organisation. You don’t really get the people all the time. What matters at the end of the day Malaysia is definitely far ahead than what it is was before Mahathir’s premiership. In that case better quantify Bush’s or Tony Blair’s leadership follies with many unquantifiable losses to the countries and mankind compared to the benefits they have brought to their countries. Yet leaders are noble leaders in the eyes of the western world.

If you looked the median age of our Mat Rempit today that is causing havoc on our roads in addition to bag snatching stunt, they are in the region 20-30s, back in 1983, he “mangalu-alukan” 70 millions populations in one UMNO General assembly .

Yup,all thanks to him too. Giving birth to bunch of road goons without properly thought through if our education and social infrastructure was ready to support it. That’s him.

I am sure you are just looking from your preconceived perpective, a perpective of ‘your’ choice. Whn you filter, it was also purely based on your already bias judgement. Whn there are sound arguements that shake your ploys, you quickly trash them. Have you met the man in person before writing the book? be very clear in your accusations if you want to be a respectable writer. Pls dont belong to those group of Sulman Rusdie or Girt Wilders. Be respectable, earn some respect.
BTW, in reference to some opinions, If you were to base on individual succeess, policy, intellect failures, management capabilities, brain or any other compare qualities between Bush and mahathir, we all should know the answer. I also agree with Rightist. hopely you wont filter this one as well ( along with many others who could not agree with you) cos i had linkd the page to some good characters out there to judge you. The judge wannabe is now being judged!

I strongly believe that what the writer had written was based on his well-researched findings. The writer would not risk of being sued by Mahathir.

If Mahathir and his henchmen feel that this is a make up story then they could file a suit against the author, which I strongly believe will not happen.

Why would Mahathir wanted to rule the country for that long and mind you not without clear and hidden motive and objectives. Had it not for certain quarters which had pressured him to step down in 2003 he would still be the PM till today.

Perhaps thats why Salman Rusdie and Girt Wilders published their books….which ere blatan disregards.. but still the authors were getting supports and protections.
Anyway most opinions and insinuations seen here are very superficails, follow the crowd sentiment type, mala fide coming from those set to discredit a sworn enemy. Pls do more homework before engaging in character bashing. Its a sad scene. Mankind is not progressing but moving backwards..

I think Salman Rushdie and Geert Wilders are of different species. These two characters have one thing in common i.e to discredit Islam. There was no research done for their material.
Barry Wain had done much research to produce the book and also willing to take any risk of being sued by Mahathir. No local writer would dare write such a book for as long as BN is still in control of the nation.

God has given TDM a long life so that he can witness the demise of his children’s empire….., and he will then rot…..to ………, Never have I seen a guy, so rotten to disclaim his ancestors…., Let the rot begin from the toe to the head…, and let’s us all watch till they break the roof and the floors below for only who know’s understand.

What a looser in the eyes of the world after he made the most noise attacking the west in his 22 years as PM of Malaysia. I wish him luck for his remaining years as a retired PM of Malaysia and HISTORY will be the judge on him.

If Sabah and Sarawak did not join Malaysia in 1967, today they will be as rich as Singapore and Brunei, instead today become poorest state in malaysia. Poor Sabah and Sarawakian, you bet on wrong chips..

So what to do, the Sarawakians and the Sabahans are not as smart as the Singaporeans. After more than 50 years they are still as poor as they were before. So which politicians have robbed the wealth of Sarawak and Sabah?

Freedom to speak of the truth, is widely encouraged in Western countries. It can lead to terrible unwanted outcomes at times. Barry isn’t stupid enough to babble in his book without any solid evidence, fear not Mahathir could sue him for any defamation. It takes more than intelligence to tell the truth of an intelligent cunning man, one who has such experience in the past, an example with Anwar Ibrahim. A brilliant intelligent man too honest and ambitious only to be destroyed by his employer.
Though transparency isn’t practiced in Malaysia, I believe almost everyone knows the truth of corrupted politicians. Many who have been brain-washed to worship Mahathir in schools, are denying the facts with illogical reasons. Seeking to know the truth doesn’t make one unpatriotic or less Malaysian. One should be rational and unbiased in judging others. This book could bring positive ends, guiding the good leaders to lead the country well and ahead of others in future. Remember, Government represents us all.. not just UMNO or any political groups.

Why not he be stupid enought to babble in his book and do it for his political masters and for money?

He comes from a nation unashamed of its lies “weapons of mass destruction” killing now over a total of a million innocents precipitating an unwanted and unnecessary occupation and war in Irak.

They also had a president who ordered a burglary into the headquarters of his political rivals in an incident infamously called Watergate.

He contradicts the people who worked the Tin council and brought it down and Malaysias tin holdings with it. It was all published decades ago in the early 1980’s by Craig A Copetas the trader who worked for Marc Rich at Phillip Brothers.

Wow! Name a government that hasn’t made mistakes – twin deficits (current account deficits financing budget deficits) since 1974 in the US; Chunnel, hospital PFIs and superprofits from PFI refinancing in UK, etc – why focus on Malaysia? Just cos someone wants to make money out of writing a book? Noone has a crystal ball, I bet everyone’s had to make a quick decision without full facts. Anyone can blame anybody in hindsight, and let boring old negative fault-finders waste time ruminating and propagating on it! Every government has a learning curve, that’s why freedom of information through the world wide web can help us all learn from others’ mistakes and not repeat them. Besides, some so-called “mistakes” may be helping others out of a jam -I scratch your back, you scratch mine – governments have friendships too, trade alliances to maintain – we should know, our Nusantara maritime trading network has been around since as early as 5000 BCE to 1 CE, our Malay ancestors were seafarers knowledgeable in oceanography to as far as New Zealand and Madagascar, we’ve been trading with Indians, Persians and Chinese for 2,000 years, our oldest kingdom is probably Langkasuka in Kedah from the 1st century CE, Kadaram (later Srivijaya which extended to Malayu/Jambi in Sumatra, Tarumanegara and Holing in Java) was founded by a Persian around 630 CE and Kedah is the oldest Sultanate in Malaysia and arguably in the world since 1136 CE. Very fitting since Langkawi Island of Kedah is the birthplace of South East Asia with the separation of Pangea and Gondwanaland 550 million years ago and surfacing as an island 220 years ago. I digress. At the end of the day, we are all symbiotic and depend on each other – especially on people who clean up the environment and help in the remission of global warming. Oh for the good old days of psychedelic peace! Next year we’ll have 7 billion people in the world to feed, clothe and shelter and the earlier we all focus on generating trade, industry, services, jobs and socio-enviro-economics instead of bickering over differences in race, religion, creeds and politics – the better it would be for everybody. Noone has the right to judge others – only God has that right. Life is so fleeting and temporary – may God accept our service to mankind in the name of God, King and Country so that we may find salvation. If someone thinks he’s got great ideas, where do they come from? Has anyone realised that ideas are inspirations from God? Has anyone realised that positive thinking opens up great possibilities and opens up new doors and negative thinking makes things even worse? How I wish our education system taught us this (instead of having to learn it through life) and allowed us to study and work in whichever field each person loved best (imagine the productivity!). If only we’d read and understood the Quran in secondary school instead of waiting for mid-life crisis to read it in English (the language of the ‘net-work). Substance over Form. There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger. Salaam (peace).

Case in point – Einstein obtained inspiration for the Theory of Relativity in a DREAM. Distortion of time and space is referred to in the Quran – please refer to Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation of As-Sajdah 32:5 “He rules (all) affairs from the heavens to the earth: in the end will (all affairs) go up to Him, on a Day, the SPACE whereof will be (as) a thousand years of your reckoning, as compared to Al-Maarij 70:4 “The angels and the spirit ascend unto him in a Day the MEASURE whereof is (as) fifty thousand years”. If I read incorrectly, I stand corrected. All praises to God that does not sleep and does not forget! Salaam (peace).

My deepest apologies for keeping your comments in moderation for such a long period. I have been busy lately and have not gone into the blog at all. I approve all comments as long as it will not sow hatred, not attack an individual personally and profanities were not used.

From the remarks here about the Wain book it appears that there is a ection of Malaysia that are nothing short of western backside licckers who believe anything and everything a looser like Wain has to say about someone he does not like.

Malaysia may have all the trappings of a first world nation, but certainly its population appears to lacck depth in their intellect.

Wain’s book, out of interest, does not even warrant a mention amongst pulp fiction reviews. It is a non starter even in countries where gossip, hot stories about scandals and fiction are the staple.

Quirky! After a failed takeover with a stated deadline that held up foreign investment, the supposed alternative appears to have put in place a succession plan that will ultimately lead to disintegration of the most unlikely alliance formed from opposite poles and everyone is yet to see proof of good governance in terms of economic progress, instead of trying to hang on by holding illegal assemblies in parking lots. Reformation for the sake of it does not create jobs nor feed people. Nor did focusing on eliminating laws which the West decided to put back in place. No wonder they are disillusioned and leaving in droves! So who is “NO Gov” now? They should have just left it to the time and tested experts. At least there was progress, not just self-interested, power-crazy talk formenting disunity. Blame the boy who let chaos out on a whim – or was it a deal?

he was just like the emperor in the classic ” the emperor’s new clothes “. why didnt we remove him/them before such serious damage was done? you r all also responsible for the rot. now before its too late, if its not too late already, exercise your universal sufferage. its high time the whole corrupted boleh nincampoos be denied the right to rule this lovely land.
i love the malays; they r basically such nice people
i love the indians; they r brave, helpful people
i love the chinese; they r such hardworking people
but that mamak set them up against each other.

Salaam. The Malays could be the remnants of the lost civilisation of Atlantis, evidenced by underwater pyramid found at Yonagumi off Okinawa, Japan and the language distribution and localised development of Malayo-Polynesian/Austronesian languages. Holocene sea levels rose sharply after a comet passed too close by Earth 10,500 years ago and tilted its axis. The Kushans were guided to Nusantara in the 1st century CE by Sri Nuruddin Arya Passatan, Admiral of the Kushan Navy and by Arya Tabing, according to Ahmad Grozali, both Malays from Massava Islands (Gunung Jerai and Bukit Seguntang were ISLANDS then). Kushans were one of five Yuezhi (Vijaya in Tibetan)tribes from the Tarim Basin, Indo-European as evidenced by mummies found with red and blonde hair. Anyone ever wondered why the Egyptians use kohl and tattooes and buried in jars like the indigenous coastal people of Nusantara? Who WERE the Sea People mentioned in Egyptian records? How did the Egyptians learn to make pyramids? Were they trading with Barus (Sumatera) for camphor – which century BCE was that? How did the Easter Islanders move their idols for that matter (mata is the same in Malayo-Polynesian and Austronesian language, learnt that on Discovery Channel decades ago). Has anyone seen the crude archaic navigational equipment used by Marshall Islanders? Whatever. Point is we Malaysians have a lot to thank the world for anyway, maritime trade has been our mainstay since time immemorial since the thallosocracy of Srivijaya continued through Parameswara founder of the Sultanate of Melaka, the last prince of Srivijaya and great-grandson of Sang Nila Utama who founded Singapura – let’s capture our glory again! Alangkahsuka Srivijaya … Supreme Joy Splendid Success! At the end of the day we all go back to Noah pbuh and Adam pbuh before that, and in between – Seth pbuh of the thousand cities and Idris pbuh who taught us to write …

For me.. a new leader (PM) should do the correction or he can choose a charecter the 1st (a king) Tunku Abdul Rahman 2nd his father (rakyat)Tun Razak 3rd (rakyat)Tun Hussein Onn 4th (rakyat)Tun Mahathir 5th (rakyat)Tun Abdullah 6th (rakyat)himself be a new Tun 7th (should be a King). Let all new leader PM rule only for 5 years not more than that or they will make Malaysia more worse. New vision let the King rule Malaysia. PM should not handle Finance take it off your hand let other Finance Minister handle it. RM100 billion give back to MALAYSIA. EVERY Humans are all the same behavoir like to do evil things if the have the chance. Malaysian should feel very lucky because our country are in peace and harmony till today and don’t try to create war among ourself. Open our eyes other country still have their own war (BY HUMANS OR NATURE) until today and it will going on and on unknown when it will to stop (something call HUKUM KARMA). BUKA MATA,BUKA TELINGA,BUKA MINDA, FAHAMKAN KENAPA BETUL-BETUL, CARI JALAN PENYELESAIAN UNTUK MENGATASINYA. JANGAN BUAT PERANGAI KEBUDAK-BUDAKAN. HORMAT MENGHORMATI SESAMA. UNTUKMU 1MALAYSIA.

If we recall the events of the last regional economic crisis in 1998, leaving the Ministry of Finance detached from the Prime Minister’s Office could lead to unhealthy competition fuelled by red carpets and 21-gun salutes. Even USA allows 2 terms of 4 years each, a pity as Clinton was very close to closing the deal on the Roadmap to Peace when he was impeached – now, how much was THAT a coincidence?

In debating whether independent Finance Ministers are a good idea – we can see how Gordon Brown set Tony Blair up with his unpopular economic policies – to take over after 10 years. He didn’t last long, did he? I agree with you – Karma …

Talking about Tony Blair, I recall watching him on TV convincing the British House of Commons on the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in Iraq. Have they found the WMD? At the time, an Australian notary was querying – what has the War on Terror got to do with the War on Iraq? Even former British Head of MI5 reckoned it was a “huge overreaction”. Good thing Obama is trying to end it. Dunno about Afghanistan though – fighting over mapped minerals I guess. Always wondered what the bombings were about – pipeline route to sea? Texan oilspill karma?

At least we are lucky. Our PM, within 100 days of service, has established the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, and later the Government Transformation Plan. After all, Islam IS Greenpeace. Muslims greet each other with Salaam (peace). So do Jews with their Shalom for that matter. Going back to Nabi Ibrahim (Abraham) a.s., my understanding is that Arabs and Jews are brothers through Nabi Ismail a.s. and Nabi Ishak a.s. respectively. If we go back to Nabi Adam a.s. we are all brothers! And what colour does the Quran promise we get to see in heaven, God allowing? Green.

Actually, imagine at 22, holding a Bachelor in Industrial Economics from University of Nottingham (Robin Hood country!) holding a job at PETRONAS and suddenly having to enter politics cos your father passed away from a heart attack whilst in office as PM? THAT is sacrifice for the nation.

And our PM although Second Generation talks sense compared to George W. Bush with his “make no mistakes” repetitive repertoire after 9/11 – his father George Bush Snr. spoke a whole lot more sense, but then again he had served as Director of CIA. Has anyone noticed they took turns sitting on the Boards of Texan Oilcos? Farenheit 911 is fabulous – did George W. Bush make his first million from Carlyle Group in which Bin Laden group had invested? George Bush Snr was allegedly senior advisor until 2003 but still shareholder. Carlyle Capital has since collapsed from the US sub-prime defaults. Again, karma … although US16.6b default was reportedly “minimal financial loss” to Carlyle Group … And what about the insider trading? http://911research.wtc7.net/sept11/stockputs.htmlhttp://stj911.org/evidence/foreknowledge.html#insider_trading

Agreed the world should focus on the war in reversing crimes against nature which led to Global Warming, rather than nit-picking like our “opposition” do. Karma …

Let’s not EVER have to endure another war cos some Republican President wants to SHIFT FOCUS from USA’s economic woes (Black Monday 1987, dotcom crash 2000 or whatever) and allegedly make money from defence spending …

Btw suicide bombers are getting better at targeting security personnel instead of innocent women and children but then again why do muslims have to fight muslims in Iraq, after all Shiah only make up around 15% of the world’s muslims, and noone knows FOR SURE which of the 72 sects will go to heaven anyway … weren’t we meant to be SECTLESS in the first place?

Upon them will be green garments of fine silk and heavy brocade, and they will be adorned with bracelets of silver; and their Lord will give to them to drink of a Wine Pure and Holy) (SURAH AL INSAN 76:21)

Greenpeace moderator, please publish them in sequence or not at all else they read out of context. Odd that my personal chat to you passed moderation but those observations for further discussion were not. Again I question whether this is a biased blog.

I would say that this man is brave in heart and tough in soul. How many person can rule a country for so many years without going insane? It’s a tough job with many challenges. While we are commenting about others, let us not forget to put ourselves in other’s shoes.

MamaMia sounds like you are an avid shopper. Well, it was the people who kept “needing” subsidies. Tun M once said “That’s why lah you people, you want first class service but want to pay third class rates” in response to a question why Selangor should subsidise water when Mean Household Income in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur was RM4-5,000/month compared to Perlis and Kelantan at the time less than RM2,000/month. Now we have Idris Jala telling the world some bad news which could hurt foreign investment. Bet all possibilities have not been exhausted – they should have called the “Ghostbusters” to do the job instead, LOL! What is so difficult? GNI = GDP + foreign-sourced income. That ain’t rocket science! In any case, Malaysia SHOULD remove petrol subsidies. Global warming will make us all running for the hills – 1m rise will flood the Mekong delta. The world should forget about wars and focus on reversing global warming. Malaysia can make a commitment to reducing its carbon footprint by NOT subsidising fossil fuel consumption, PERIOD. Salaam (peace).

Obviously this Mama Mia girl was recently born that she is blind and deaf. Ask your elders, dear. As an upper middle income economy we’re a lot better off than our neighbours. I wouldn’t count Singapore. How hard is it to develop a 16km x 24km city-state?

Tut tut, girl. When you have compared progress through the World Wars, from before independence through the 80’s through 2003 until now then only are you qualified to comment on economy, infrastructure, public transport and education, little girl. You probably weren’t born yet, that’s why I said ask your elders.

If you can’t see the difference in the ease of development of 710 sq km (Singapore)compared to 329,845 sq km (Malaysia – 464.6 times bigger) and the economies of scale of population density of 7,022 persons/sq km (Singapore) compared to 85.8 persons/sq km (Malaysia); instead you talk about apples and oranges, then you are DEFINITELY NOT QUALIFIED to talk about economic nor infrastructure development.

Notwithstanding World Bank’s income classifications that do not seem to reflect reality, Malaysia is developed. Our highways are reminiscent of Ginza Tokyo – just look at the overlapping bridges, highways and LRT. We’ve got plenty of cars ergo traffic congestion. How many universities do we have? Even USA has rural areas. In Census 2000, 88.7% of our population was considered urban (served by a local authority) whereas China’s urban population only just outstripped rural a couple of weeks ago. And talking about freedom. You, little girl, are able to comment in this blog. Little are you thankful for the broadband communications infrastructure that allows you to do so without the frustration of waiting for dial-up internet. Us oldies remember those slow days.

And now we have to deal with the social ills and potential race relations issues brought about by ungrateful people like you. Us oldies remember the bad days and want to avoid them like the plague.

You have seen no wars, that may be why you are so complacent. Perhaps we should send you to one.

But perhaps you are right about the standard of education as your thoughtless comments and simplistic language show an obvious LACK OF EDUCATION!

Actually Hang Tuah and Mama Mia, let’s stop this ding dong. Let’s fix it. Tell us what you think the Education system should be like.

I personally think that it should support children to do the best in what they like the best and to the capacity that they can achieve. Then Malaysia would become a VERY PRODUCTIVE nation full of people who do what they like best! (happy people have better quality of life, yes?). Every person has a purpose in life and every person contributes to society even the guy who picks up your solid waste and looks after sewerage treatment plants. Even in the worse case a crime lord pays his people, who spends their money in the economy in order to live they have to be fed, clothed, sheltered, transported. Wouldn’t go that route though – watch the doco on Albert Bruno and other mafia heads getting killed by John Gotti.

I wish that children were taught to think POSITIVELY in school and that every child is taught how to THINK and UNDERSTAND instead of MEMORISING and PARROTING. The purpose is to equip them with the SKILLS to manage CHALLENGES throughout life. I wish every child were taught to mind map and speed read (within their capabilities). And taught exam techniques (get easy ones done first, hard ones later). And the thing with smart but lazy kids is they have to be told what is the PURPOSE of what they are learning and HOW it can help them later in life (momentum for driving, vectors for sea navigation, forces for operating cranes etc). Sort of an introduction to each lesson, with example of jobs using them. Guide enough for curriculum?

I also wish that children were taught how to interact with each other in a tolerant and peaceful manner and that school activities promote understanding between races, unity and love for Malaysia. Thus I’m not keen on segregating children into Chinese and Tamil schools. I wish children were taught if not in 4 languages, at the least textbooks be in both English and Malay and children had a choice whether to answer exams in English or Malay. This could allow all children to master both languages faster through the side by side translations. Malay may have been the trading lingua franca of Melaka half a millenium ago but we all have to acknowledge that English is the language of the internet a primary source of research and knowledge. Furthermore when I visited Penang last year hotel staff be of any race weren’t proficient in English! How to serve tourists? Each spend around RM2,000 per visit and we had around 23 million last year, could be more if we employed our Ustadzs to translate Arabic texts and get better background into our culture and the interdependency of mainland, peninsular and island South East Asia.

And to make sure EVERYONE has a job, let’s make sure we PLAN our target industries and services, how many people we need and offer University courses based on that.

My understanding is that the underlying theme of the Quran is THINK and REFLECT. One can envision the future by reflecting on the past (just by thinking of the IDEAL and fixing whatever needs to be fixed!). Try thinking back to the events that happened in your life and see what you learnt from it and why things happened WHEN they happened, God is the best planner and you may realise that things happened AT THE BEST TIME for them to happen. Then you will FEEL the LOVE of God – imagine God arranging the lives (and the effects of each person’s decisions/free will) of almost 7 billion people in this world alone (Arabic tradition in Lore of the Light suggests 70,000 worlds between the legs of the Throne (Kursi) – and no wonder the Angels have to go to and from the Tablet to carry out God’s commands – depending on each human being’s decision?) especially if you watch docos on astrophysics – the latest is on the telescope in Antartica (aren’t we PROUD of the Malaysian boy who used to cycle to the internet cafe somewhere in Pahang and won a trip to Antartica?) capturing images of thousands of galaxies having gone back in time (takes LIGHT years for the past to be seen from earth NOW) to see star formations – and you realise what an absolute minute tiny spec you are in the Universe! (And what about the Universes beyond the black holes?). And God loves everyone not just muslims – we start everything by saying In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful – Rahman (Gracious) to muslims and Rahim (Merciful) to everyone. Else non-Muslims won’t have food! Ask the Sufis e.g. read Jalaluddin Rumi et al.

Christian taxi drivers in Jordan refer to God as Allah. It’s not our God and your God – there is only ONE God otherwise there would be chaos like in the movie Clash of the Titans. Even Balinese Hindu temples have a high chair for the Supreme Being (just read decent travel books).

Elsewhere in this blogsite I mentioned that IgA in the body which enhances the immunity system increases with POSITIVE thinking and decreases with anger. Going back to astrophysics and seeing the events of the Universe many billion years ago through the telescope. Apart from stars, planets, black holes, galaxies, pulsars there is also dark matter and dark energy. Nowadays people use radio telescopes to look that far back, picking up electromagnetic waves from those events. Now just imagine that speaking nicely is a harmonious sound akin to music and speaking with anger is a noisy discordant chaotic sound. What if in the future instrumentation is so precise that they can hear our speech now. Let’s not be remembered as noisy, discordant and chaotic!

Apologise for my rambling or if I offended anyone. Point is – let’s blog POSITIVELY and CONSTRUCTIVELY rather than NEGATIVELY and DESTRUCTIVELY. Let’s change the tide of public opinion on the web and be of service to mankind which I believe is our purpose in life.

There is plenty of scope for using the internet and blogsites to promote global peace, environmental awareness and solutions. Let’s unite the world and reverse Global Warming!

Salaam (greenpeace).

P/S Mama Mia let’s not argue for the sake of arguing … internet noise, remember! And Hang Tuah perhaps you may wish to consider seeking to understand in order to be understood. If I recall history correctly – in hindsight, pity your namesake didn’t trust his friend Hang Jebat enough to discuss with him before disappearing albeit under false accusations – that could have avoided Hang Jebat’s palace amok and treason in the first place! Fixing from within may be better than from without. For one thing, the whole world need not know about it! I suppose the problem is gatekeepers the impediment to direct channels … like the rabbis of old wanted to keep God’s name secret – to further their own self-importance i.e. self-interest? Food for thought.

2:9 They seek to deceive God and those who believe, but they only deceive themselves without noticing.
2:10 In their hearts is a disease, so God increases their disease, and they will have a painful retribution for what they have denied.
2:11 And if they are told: �Do not make corruption in the land,� they say: �But we are reformers!�
2:12 No, they are the corruptors, but they do not perceive.
2:13 And if they are told: �Believe, as the people have believed,� they say: �Shall we believe like the foolish have believed?� No, they are the foolish but they do not know.
2:14 And if they come across those who have believed, they say: �We believe,� and when they are alone with their devils they say: �We are with you, we were only mocking.�

The prospect a further half-hour was almost too exhausting to contemplate, with
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At the time of publication.

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